Conveyer



Ot. 18, 1932. J. c. WALTER E1' AL CONVEYER Filed Deo. 3. 193C 4- Sheets-Sheet l- .NWW

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Oct. 18, 1932. J. c, WALTER ET AL. 1,883,426

GQNVEYER Fled Dec. 3, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 .NJ-r N.

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Filed Dec. 3, 1930 A( A v V All J. C. WALTER E1' AL CONVEYER 4 sheets-sheet 5 ell l 4o' /K l I f c* a l Jmntm /C Jawazer- /ca G l?. Vogl,

' J. c. WALTER ET AL 1,883,426

CONVEYER Filed nec. :5, 195o 4 sheets-sheet 4 -xf .M l m R] u. hv mf d 1J mw l R A\ M .Nwwwj u Tf Tv A@ o\\ w ect'. 18,1932.

tion illustrated in Patente-0a. is, issz UNITED s'rATss PATENT orifice y .10ml c. wam-n. um mmorrn voor, or onus-Y, omo, assieiaons 'ro 'ran .enviarriiaonsoit conm, or cmcnuwri, omo, a 'coiiroiiarron` or onio com Appunti ma member a, i990.' serial in. 499,765.

with a pressure suitable for the service to be performed, by a series'of rollers ywhich are arranged at appropriate intervals along the lengt of the mechanism and are adjustable up and down to regulate the pressure of the belt against the iirst mentioned.

series of rollers.

One mechanism of the kind referred to,

andto which the invention is particularly applicable, but is not in all respects restricted, is a conveyer of the type in-which the said first mentioned series of rollers form the load supporting bed of the mechanism and opera-te by their rotationto immeans by which the supporting legs of the part advancing movement to the load mounted thereon. I-

The invention particularl comprehends a construction in which the lt supportin rollers are "adjustable in groups, instead o individually, and, in fact, one of its important purposes is to provide a practicable construction by which they may be so adjusted.

Other purposes and advantages of the invention will be apparent to -those familiar with the constructions exemplilied by the accompanying drawiigsnw ich Y Fig. 1 is a si e elevation of' an intermediate section of a conveyer, showing the driving belt in broken'outline to avoid confusion,

` and exemlifying a construction in which all of the lt supporting rollers of said section are supported by an adjustable frame common thereto; f

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on a lar r scale, with parts broken awa'yrof alpart o the construc- 1 Fig. 3 is a verbicalgaection on the line 3-3 of Figi 2;

Fig. 4 is -an vend view-of the section of'con- I ve er shown in-Fig. 1;

ig. v5 is a vertical sectionion a line corg. 6 is a vertical section on a line coi'- Mriding tothe line 6-6 of Fig. 1;

'ig 7" is 'a detail view v'particularly intended to show the squared end of the tical mem rs a', and alsothro upon .'which one endV of the corresponding roller is rotatably mounted; y

Fig. 8 is a detail vertical view on a line corresponding to the line 8-8 of Fig. 7

Fig. 9 is a detail view particularl intended to show means at one side o one end of the frame which carries the belt supporting rollers bywhicli, in co-operation with like means at the op osite side of said lframe and at opposite sidpes of the other end of the frame, the frame is held against lateral displacement and is guided in its vertic'al adustments;

ig. 10 is a- -side elevation corresponding to Fig. 1 but illustrative of an embodiment in which a lesser number of belt support-ing rollers are Asimultaneously adjustable;

Fig. 11 is' a detail view illustrative of a ,ened or leveling purposes; and

Fig. 12 illustrates the parts shown in Fig. 11 viewed at right anglesfrom the position in which they are shown in said figure.

For illustrative purposes, this invention has been'shown as embodied in a conve er in which aseries of closely set rollers (mar ed A inall the v res of the drawings) are eniployed as te load supporting bed of the Each" of these-.rollers A is preferabl `rotatably mounted on a' stationary sha. 10 through the medium of bearings of friction reducing nature, one of which/is shown at` 11 in Fig. 8 of the drawings. The lentire series of rollers A of a section ofthe conveyer are carredby a main frame common thereto, which These longitudinal members are preferablyv of an le iron construction, each com rising a horizontal member c and a vertica member a.

I 'I'he longitudinalmembers A' it opposite sides of the frame are tied together by ap ropriately spaced rods 15, Figs. 1, 6 an 10,

which extend transversel of the conveyer 'and thro vand-outward y beyond the verli spac' said vertica sleeves 16 arranged between members and having their ends in contact ,I

with the inner surfaces thereof. The outer ends of the rods 15 are threaded and nuts 17 mounted on said outer ends with their lsurfaces in contact with the outer surfaces of the vertical members a co-operate with the spacing sleeves and rods in holding the frame members A against lateral relativedisplacement.

Each shaft 1.0, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, has its opposite ends extending through and outwardly beyond the frame members A and is held against rotation by flattenin one of its ends, as shown at 10 Fi s. 7 an -8, and seating the' said fiat.-`

tc-ned en in a similarly shaped opening in theA corresponding membera.

of the shafts areround and fit in correspondingly round shaped openings in member a so that the shafts can be readilyassembled.

As shown in FiguresQ` and 8, rings 10, removably applied to the outer end of the flattenedportion of the shafts causes the shaft to be held in place by the member a tting be-` tween said rings 10a and the shoulder l()b of the flattened shaft.

For positively rotating rollers A about their respective axes a driving belt, marked B in all figures of the drawings is employed. This belt is engaged between its ends by pressure regulating rollers, marked C in all .the figures and is driven by any suitable belt driving means, not necessary herein to illustrate/or describe.

These pressure regulating rollers C, as already stated, are arranged to be adjusted in sets or groups, and to this end the sets or.

groups are respectively mounted in secondary frames, which are separately adjustable relatively to each other and to the correspondingV portlon of the frame which carries the rollers A, preferably by the means hereinafter set forth.

The number of rollers in any set or group throughout the length of the conveyer mayYA vary 1n accordance with preferences or requirements. This is exemplified by Figs. 1 and l0; Fig. 1 showing a construction in which all of the pressure regulating rollers' ofthe illustrated section of conveyer are carried by a frame common thereto so that all of said rollers throughout said section will be adjusted simultaneously by adjustment of the frame, while Fig. 10 shows a construction in which the pressure regulatingrollers of-v the section of conveyer corresponding tov that illustrated in Fig; 1 are separated `into'two groups carried by frames which are-separately adjustable.

The secondary frame illustrated in Fig. 1

(see also Figs. 2, 4 and 5) includes two longi- 1 tudinal members C respectively arranged at opposite sides thereof and each extending throughout the length of the corresponding section of the conveyer. Each of these mem- The other ends "engaged by the shafts 10 of the corresponding rollers C, and a horizontal member, c2, to rest upon and be secured in any suitable way to transversely extending elements D and D' of this frame. These elements D and D are spaced at appropriate intervals along the length of the frame and tie the longitudinal members C together. The illustrated elements D extend outwardly at their ends beyond the members C', to be engaged by adjusting means, of suitable construction, and are of angle iron construction to give them sti-en th andrigidityjappropriate to their use, see Fig. 5), while the illustrated elementsD kare of plaineonstruction and need notextend outwardly be ondthe' members C', (see Fig. 6?', since t ey serve, or may serve, only as e ements for tying the members C at opposite sides ofv the frame together.

The adjusting means for thesecondary frame, preferably employed, comprise an appropriate number of bolts E which extend through the horizontal members a and d of the main 'frame member A and secondary frame element, D, respectively, at place outside the secondary frame members C. Each bolt hasat one end a head e and at its opposite ends a pair of adjusting and clamping nuts e', e2, the said head being preferably arranged beneath and in contact with the horizontal member d and the said nuts being preferably positioned to receive the member a between them. It will be apparent that adjustment of the nuts e and ezof the several bolts will raise or lower the secondary frame and the pressure rollers C and hold said frame rollerssecurely in its adjusted position.

other lone of easy accomplishment, which is true also with respectfto adjustment ofthe secondary frame, since the connecting and 'adjusting means are of simple nature and It will also be noticed that -the d, correlation of theparts, is such as to render the. assemblage of the main and secondary4 frames into operative relationship with each marked C10 in Fig. 10 and direrfrom the corresponding--membersI)1 of Fig. v1 only in respect of their. length. In 'every other`4 respect each secondary rame in the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1() is or may be of identical construction with. the secondary frameillustrated in 1 and this is true also with respect to the means by which the secondary frames are adjustably sup rted' from the frame which carries the loadmsuporting rollers A. Accordingly, the memers which Aextend transversely from one member C1"A to the corresponding member at l vthe opposite side of the frame (it being understood of course there are members C1at opposite sides of each frame) are designated reference characters, D and D1, and the adjusting bolts and their co-operating heads and nuts are designated by the characters E, e, e1, e1, all as' in the construction shown in Fig. 1. The 4horizontal member of\ eachI longitudinal member C10, in 10 is marked 011.

nected with each other near their upper ends by cross members G1 and at their upper ends by cross members G2. Mounted u onthe members G1 ar'e other fra-me mem ers G1 which are so correlated with the side members C of the secondary frame as to guide said frame in the adjustments thereof to regulate the pressure of the driving belt upon that the legs the load carr ing rollers A. It is preferred and the cross members G1 and G? be of angle iron construction. These parts are all rigidly secured to each other, by welds or other appropriate means. At the ends of each section of the conveyer provided with these stands, plates or arms G* are arranged at rest upon the upper surfaces of the cross members G1 and project from the stands into` position to be engaged by the ends 'of members Aiof thefnext adjacent section in order to provide a means by which a plurality of sectlons of the conveyer may be rigidly secured to each other at their confronting ends. It is also'preferred in ractice to miter or bevel the end of the orizontal members G1 as lshown best in Fig. 9. Each of the members G, provided to guide the frame carrying the rollers C in the adjustments of said frame and rollers, also preferably is of angle iron construction to ,provide a base portion to rest upon the corresponding member G1, to which it is rigidl secured by welding, or otherwise if. preerred, and also to provide a ila-nge or lip which enters an open' c in the adjacent edge of the member c o Athe frame carryin the rollers C. -The plates `o r arms G* an the 'upper horizontal elements of the members G2 at the places unprovided with said platesi' Aor arms are rigidly in any suitable.

`way to Ithe horizontal members a of the frame carrying the rollers A. It will thus be seen that the frame which carries the rollers A is supported by a structure of strong and durable nature and which structure also includes means by which theframe vcarrying rollers C is guided in the up and down adjustments of the latter.

' The returning run of the belt B is supported by rollers -H which in turn are supported by the respective stands through the medium of plates I suitably secured to the Simple means for permittingl dit-ional cross members, marked K in Figs. .p

11' and 12, are preferably provided to connect the pairsA of legs at opposite sides of the stand with each other when the feet pieces are of a nature vwhich permits adjust-' j ments of the height of the stand. These additional cross members are `preferably ar-` ranged above said feet pieces.- In some cases, however, adjustment of the heights of the stands is not necessary and in suol. cases the feet pieces J and transverse members K may be replaced by transverse members K1 arran ed at the bottom of the legs G and accor ingly serving both as tie members and feet, as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 10. Additional brace means L extending diagonally rom the legs G to the horizontal members a of the frame carrying the rollers A and secured at the opposite ends to said legs and les frame member are provided as shown, in,

Figs. 1 and 10.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that we have provided a load conveying structure of strong, simple and practical construction which includes as a part of its bed altravelling belt whose tension can be regu- -jlated at various places at the length thereof in a most practical Way and with aminimum of effort. It-will also be understood that "when this belt is embodied in the type of conveyer illustrated, namely, in which it is em loyed to impart rotating movement to loa supporting rollers, the means by which its tension agalnst such rollers is regulated, including as 1t does elements by which a plurality of pressure regulating rollers engaging the unders'urface of the belt are simultaf neously adjusted, reduces the timerequired inthe adjustmentand assures a. more accurate alignment of the belts with respect to whereby a storage space may be set up at the corresponding part of the conveyer and also whereby packages can be pushed freely along th rollers A in the event of dama-ge to the drive unit. Adjustment of the tension of the belt upon the rollers A compensates for undue stretch in the belt and also enables the application of its'poWer to the roller A to be in accord with` the nature and weight of.

thearticles propelled by said rollers. A

While adJustment of the rollers C and their frame'or frames in up or down or-ver- `tical direction only has been described and illustrated it should be understood that ad".-

practicable way of so fixing the frames in? volves merely the upsetting of the protruding ends of the bolts E down against the nuts e2.

Having thus described the invention what we believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, and therefore claim is l. A conveyer including a main frame, a traveling belt, load supporting means driven by said belt, a secondary frame having a group of rollerssupporting the working run y ofthe belt, and means for raising and lower- -ingI said secondary frame and belt supporting rollers, unitarily, relatively to said. main frame and load supporting means.

2. A conveyer including a travelingbelt, a

frame, a series of rollerscarried by said ,frameand driven by said belt,a secondary frame,

a group of belt supporting rollers carried .by

the secondary frame, and means adjustably connecting the secondary frame with the iirst mentioned frame and operative to vraise 'and lower the secondary frame and the group of belt supporting rollers carried thereby, unitarily,`relativelyto the first mentioned rollers.

3. A conveyer including a main frame having supporting stands, a traveling belt, means supported by the main frame and driven. by

said belt, a secondary frame, adjustable supporting connections between the main frame and secondary frame, a group of belt support- `ing rollers carried by the secondary frame and unitarily adjustable thereby up and down relatively to the`means drivenv by said belt, and means substantially forming part of the main frame stands and having a guiding relationship with the secondary frame, 4. A structure according vto claim' 3 and wherein the last mentioned means include vertical flan es or members and the secondary frame inclu es lon tudinal members having openings into whic said flanges or members extend.

. 5. A conveyer according to claim 3 and wherein the means supported by the main frame and driven by the belt comprise a series of load sup orting rollers arranged to be oated about dxed horizontal axes by said 6. A structure according to claim l'and wherein the adjustable frame includes longitudinal roller-supporting members at opposite sides thereof and transverse elements projecting laterally at both endsbeyond the said longitudinal members respectively and connecting the same with each other, and wherein also the adjusting means for the frame engages the projecting ends of the said transverse members. l

j 7. A structure according to claim 2 and vwherein the secondary frame includes longitudinal roller supporting members at opposite sides thereof and transverse elements which connect said members with each other and project outwardly atltheir opposite ends `beyond the same, and whe'rein also thejirst mentioned frame is wider than the secondary frame and includes longitudinal roller supporting members, and the means for adjustably connecting the secondary frame with the mainv frame are engaged with the longitudinal members 'of the first mentioned frame and the outwardly projecting ends of the transverse elements of the ysecondary frame.

8. A conveyer section including a main frame, a lsecondary frame, a traveling belt, a series of load supporting rollers carriedl by the main frame and arranged to be rotated by said belt, a group of .pressure regulating rollers carried by the secondary frame and engaging the belt, and means for raising ly adjustable.

10. A conveyer section including a main frame extending throughout the ength of the section, a series of 'transverse rollers carried by Asaid main frame, a traveling belt engaging said rollers and rotating the same, a plurality of secondary framesl arranged in an endl to end relation along the length of the section and each provided with a group of pressure regulating rollers which enga vthe surface ofthe belt opposite that engagede with the first mentioned rollers, and independentl adjustable means at opposite ends lof eac secondary frame for supportin the latter and raising and lowering the ro' ers thereofI um'tarly.

. 11. A structure according to claim 8 and wherein each secondary frame is of narrower width than' the main frame and includes transverse tie elements each projecting at .its opposite ends outward beyond the sides of the frame, and the adjustable means for each secondary frame comprises .a series of bolts respectivel engaging the outwardly projecting ends o -the Atie elements and also engaged with the main frame.-

12. A conveyer including a mainframe having supporting stands rovided with transversely extending mem ers, the main frame also including longitudinally extend- 4ing members respectively at oppositesides thereof and means rigidly connecting its said longitudmally extending members with its Y stands; rollerscarried by said longitudinal members; a traveling belt arranged to rosaid rollers and when so tate said rollers; av secondary frame including longitudinal members at opposite sides thereof, said secondary frame being of'narrower width than the frame; a plurality o pressure regulating rollers for the belt, carried by said secondary frame; meansfor adjustably supporting the secondary frame from the main frame, thereby operative to adjust vthe plurality ofpressure regulating rollers simultaneously; and means supported by the transversely extending members of the .supporting stands and having a guiding repower thereto, a secondaryl 'meexten g ongitudinally of the section and `provide wit belt sup lorting members arranged below the bed o the main frame andfmeans for 'raising and lowering -said secondary frame and the belt supjgrtmg members, uni-tarily,

. and thereby the lt. into and out of'upower transmittin relationship with the ro ers in thebedoft econveyer,'at'wil1.

15. A'conveyer section com' risinl a main frame provided with longitudinal side members and with a load supporting bed having transverse rollers. carried bysaid side members, a belt'traveling longltudinally of the f the conveyer in a lower plane t toim artv frame and frictionally engageable with said rollers to impart power thereto, a secondary frame having longitudinal side members and provided with a group of transversely extending belt supporting and tensioning'rollers spaced apart alon its len ranged below said loa su portmg bed, and means by which the secon ary frame is supported from the main frame, said means being adjustable to raise or lower at will the secondary framel and the group of rollers carried by said frame, unitarily, -to correspondingly raise or lower the belt into or out of ower transmitting relationshi with the Irol ers in the load sup ortinv be whereby sov said section is readily-a aptabe Vfor the transfer or for the storage of articles.

16. A conveyer comprising a` main frame having longitudinal side members, transversel arranged load supporting rollers supporte by said members, a driving belt whose upper surface is adapted to frictionally engage the under peripheral surfaces of said load supporting rollers and when so engaged to impart rotative movement/thereto, a plurality of secondary frames separate from the mainframe and arranged alongthe length'of an said main frame, each of sai'd secondary frames having longitudinal members at its opposite sides, a corres ending plurality of groups of transhelt supporting and tensioning rollers carried by the vrespective secondary ,frames and engaging the under surface of said belt 4 and means foriraising and lowering the respective secondary frames relatively to the main frame and to each other.

17. A vconveyer according -to claim 1 in which the means for raising and lowerin the secondary frame and belt supporting ro ers unitarily relatively to the-main frame and load-supporting means are rmanently fixed against movement when sai secondary frame and load slporting rollers have been set in their inten positions.

los

18. .A conveyer section accordin to claim a 8 in which the means for raising an lowering the secondi)l frame are permanently fixed to prevent raising and lowerin movement of said frame when the frame been set in itsl intended' position. v

19. A conveyer according tou-claim A16 in which the means for raising and llowering the respective secondary frames relatively to the main frame and to each other are permanentfixed against movement whensaid secondary frames have been set in' theirA intended positions.

In testimony whereof we ax our-signatures.

RUDOLPH voG'r.

JOHN o. WALTER.

iso 

